'Tis the season for giving, but some are taking advantage of the holiday spirit with scams so believable that even people trying to avoid them lose money.
A woman from Elyria can't believe scammers got one over on her.
"I'm the type of person who will help anybody," said Amy Gilbert, who was scammed out of holiday spending money. “And he laughed like the Grinch that stole Christmas."
It was no laughing matter when Gilbert decided to apply for a holiday loan, received what appeared to be an email verification and a number to call the finalizing agent.
"This guy sounded really sincere, talking to my bank people. ‘We are going to assure her that she will have her money in 10 to 15 minutes because a wire transfer doesn't take that long,’” Gilbert said. "I had a bank supervisor on the phone because I'm really monitoring because I never thought I would be scammed."
The scammers even used a real company's name based in Independence. Thinking it's legitimate, Gilbert bought a plethora of iTunes gift cards for her loan and did everything the agent said.
"I'm sitting in the parking lot at Western Union waiting for my money and never get it," she said.
All of this was happening over Thanksgiving.
"It just really messed up my holiday and for this guy to laugh on the phone like I wouldn't be able to get my money back, really hurt my feelings,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert isn't the only one to be victimized by these types of scams. She said she used to host a TV show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, at one point discussing this very topic.
"We did a show not only on the iPhone scams, but on scams period," she said. "And I got scammed."
So, even those who try to keep their guard up can fall for a sophisticated crime like this.
"You shouldn't have to pay money to get money. So, every time I kept paying this money, it was never getting to me,” Gilbert said.
So, why put herself through this again by going public? Well, you heard her say she's the type of person who will help anybody, and she wants to help you avoid being scammed.
